Fresh appeal launched into murder of Jake Bailey-Sloan, 23, in Portadown

Jake Bailey-Sloan died following an incident in Mandeville Street in the early hours of Sunday October 17.

He was described as a young man who returned to to his home town in Northern Ireland around six years ago from South Africa and started a business employing local people.

Detective Chief Inspector Darren McCartney, senior investigating officer in the case, described what happened to Mr Bailey-Sloan as an “awful thing” and urged people to “search their souls”.

“This is a young man who went out, no one expected that to happen that night.

“He’s come out on the street and he is now dead.

“We need to find out the truth, the absolute truth about what has occurred, and try and help Jake’s family,” he said.

Mr Sloan-Bailey’s dad Ross said the outpouring of support and tributes for Jake across Portadown “has been unreal”, but the lack of witnesses coming forward from the night is “hard to take”.

“If you saw anything at all through the course of the evening, inside or outside any of these premises please come forward.

“I know it is not easy … but come forward and speak to police,” he said.

“Likewise if you know that your kids were out that particular weekend, talk to them, if they’ve seen something, encourage them to come forward because we just need to know what happened and accountability.”

Police revisited the scene with members of his family on Tuesday to make a renewed appeal for information.

Officers have also handed out flyers and spoken to local people who socialise in the area in a bid to try to find more witnesses.

Mr McCartney also urged anyone who witnessed what happened to speak to police.

He said they have co-operation from a limited number of witnesses so far, but believe there are others out there that saw what happened.

“To date we have had an issue where we have not had a significant number of people coming forward and I am appealing today for anyone who was in this area on Saturday October 16 into the early hours of Sunday October 17 to please come forward to us and make yourselves known,” he said.

“If you have any information whatsoever, no matter how insignificant you believe it is, it may assist our inquiry.

“I know from looking at CCTV in the area, there have been multiple people in the area at the time when the incident occurred, and I also know of incidents that occurred inside licensed premises locally and on the streets that we’re interested in, so if you saw anything at all, no matter how insignificant, come forward to police and make us aware of it.”